Talking to Hermione all the way, Amanda indeed stopped calculating the data and various values of the Amusement Park rides.
Arriving under the ferris wheel, Amanda was pulled by Hermione to stand behind the queue.
Looking up expressionlessly at the massive ferris wheel slowly rotating nearby, Amanda realized for the first time what a real ferris wheel looked like in daily life.
Hermione held Amanda tightly, fearing she might get pushed away by the crowd if she wasn't careful. Looking down at the Amusement Park tickets in her hand, Hermione quickly compared them with the rides she knew.
The ferris wheel, little pirate ship, roller coaster, and bumper cars—these basic rides were all included; the only one that likely required a separate fee was the Haunted House.
A Haunted House... Hermione lowered her eyes and thought carefully. Should she take Amanda there?
If they went, maybe in the atmosphere of a Haunted House, Amanda would feel a bit of fear? Wouldn't she then experience the emotion of fear?
And if Amanda got scared while she was beside her... Hermione subconsciously imagined leading Amanda into the Haunted House, and then Amanda, frightened by the ghosts, burrowing into her arms.
Just thinking about it made the corners of Hermione's mouth curl up uncontrollably.
Standing next to Hermione, Amanda habitually turned to look at her expressionlessly and was momentarily stunned when she saw the upward curve of her lips.
Hermione was laughing, and it was a laugh from the heart, Amanda's brain automatically analyzed.
Unlike when they left the hospital, Hermione's smile this time was extremely natural, her facial muscles relaxed, so Amanda easily reached this conclusion.
So why was Hermione laughing? Amanda continued to think. Books said the reasons for laughing were generally happiness, excitement, or thrill.
But why was Hermione happy? Without any questioning expression, Amanda simply posed this question following her own thoughts.
After looking around, Amanda thought of the most likely answer in her mind.
Because they were at the Amusement Park, Hermione was happy; Hermione was happy because she could play at the Amusement Park.
Having reached her final conclusion, Amanda didn't look any further, silently withdrawing her gaze and continuing to stare blankly at the ferris wheel nearby.
After showing the tickets to the staff at the ferris wheel, Amanda and Hermione sat together in one of the capsules.
Sitting in the capsule, Hermione gently tugged on Amanda's sleeve. "Amanda, are you afraid of heights?"
Amanda turned her head without any change in expression, looking at Hermione and shaking her head mechanically. "Fear of heights generally refers to acrophobia. The basic symptoms are dizziness, nausea, and loss of appetite."
"I don't experience fear, so I cannot produce the above reactions. I do not have acrophobia."
Subconscious concern had made Hermione blur out the question about whether Amanda was afraid of heights.
The moment she started reciting the definition of acrophobia, Hermione regretted it. Amanda didn't understand these emotions yet... how could she be afraid of heights?
She was subconsciously using her brainwaves to suppress her emotional centers; how could her body easily allow these physiological reactions to occur?
Reaching out to pull Amanda into her arms, Hermione lowered her head and gently pressed her lips to the top of her head. "I won't say it anymore, I won't say it. It's my fault."
Amanda thought carefully about why Hermione was apologizing, but she couldn't come up with a logical reason why Hermione needed to apologize.
"You don't need to apologize. You haven't made a mistake," Amanda spoke the truth in a flat tone.
Hermione didn't speak, only slowly stroking Amanda's cheek, her gaze fixed out the window.
I must not be so careless with my words in the future, Hermione decided. She really didn't want to experience Amanda's mechanical explanations of words a third time or more.
That computer-like feeling caused waves of sharp pain in her heart.
Holding Amanda for a moment to recover, and seeing the ferris wheel about to reach its highest point, Hermione quickly released Amanda from her embrace, took her hand, walked to the glass window of the capsule, and pointed outside.
"Look, Amanda, the scenery outside is so beautiful."
Amanda looked in the direction Hermione pointed. Beyond the tall ferris wheel, the entire Amusement Park and even a large part of the city were visible.
This was a visual experience she had never had before. In her memory, she had studied many poems about the scenery atop high mountains.
She had never climbed a mountain, so she had never truly understood what the mountain scenery in those poems was like.
Even when facing the translations of the poems she had written, her blank emotions weren't enough to support her in conceptualizing an imaginary high mountain.
She had never been to a high mountain, but having ridden the ferris wheel this time, the scenery atop a mountain should be similar to this... Amanda looked into the distance with dead eyes. The distant sky was just like her—silent, as if having no reaction to anything.
Standing beside her, Hermione looked at the scenery outside the ferris wheel and turned to look at Amanda expectantly.
"Forget about this summer vacation where you want everyone to gather and play; next summer, Mom and Dad seem to be planning to take us to France. Let's climb the Eiffel Tower together then! It's much taller than this ferris wheel!"
Amanda's brain paused slightly. She turned her head and looked at Hermione with calm eyes. "I can go too..."
"Of course!" Hermione nodded as if it were obvious. "You're practically the second child in our family now."
"Or rather," Hermione narrowed her eyes in mock danger, "you don't want to spend next summer vacation with me?"
Listening to Hermione, Amanda followed the instructions from deep within her brain and shook her head, speaking mechanically. "I don't."
"That's good." Hermione laughed happily and continued to hold Amanda's hand while watching the scenery outside the ferris wheel.
Next summer vacation... Amanda looked blankly outside the ferris wheel. Could she live until next summer? Live until the time she could go to France with Hermione?
Her brain performed a quick analysis, and Amanda judged the probability of her living until then to be extremely small.
This summer, she planned to invite six people, including Hermione, to go on "vacation" at a villa; these six people were the ones she cared about most.
If any of their scores were in the bottom third, they would be... A hint of struggle from absolute logic flashed in Amanda's eyes but quickly vanished.
No, I don't want them to be destroyed... Amanda stood silently. So, if any Enforcement Agents came to take any of them away, Amanda would definitely stop them.
After that... she should accept the punishment for violating the rules without resistance, but Hermione said she wanted to travel to France and climb the Eiffel Tower with her.
Achieve this! Just like when she promised Hermione earlier, this sentence kept repeating in the depths of Amanda's mind, and she decided to follow the thoughts from deep within her brain.
However, after calculations, with her current abilities, even if she used magic under the "emergency situations" stipulated by the Ministry of Magic, she would not be able to contend with an entire enforcement agency.
Her abilities hadn't reached that level yet; even surviving would be difficult. The most she could do was buy more time for Hermione and the others after the event actually happened.
Turning her head stiffly toward Hermione, thoughts swirled in Amanda's mind as she considered her inevitable death, yet the expression on her face remained unchanged.
There was no emotion in her heart; instead, she reaffirmed that her plan would succeed and would surely protect Hermione and the others.
As for what she had just promised Hermione—going to France with her and Mr. and Mrs. Granger—she would work hard to achieve it, to survive by Hermione's side until that day.
The ferris wheel continued to rotate, and the capsule containing Amanda and Hermione slowly descended from the highest point toward the ground.
Throughout the entire process of the capsule descending to the ground, Amanda's eyes remained fixed on Hermione, never looking away.
It wasn't until their capsule had completely returned to the ground that Hermione, who had been stared at for a long time, shyly withdrew her gaze from the glass window.
Clearing her throat, she released Amanda's hand and switched to linking arms with her. "Ahem, stop staring. We should get off now."
Amanda had started looking at her since the ferris wheel reached its highest point and kept looking until they returned to the ground... She didn't know what was so good about her that this girl would watch her for so long.
With slightly flushed cheeks, Hermione walked out of the ferris wheel with her arm linked in Amanda's.
Linking arms with Amanda as they left the ferris wheel, Hermione's eyes lit up when she saw the carousel nearby. She spotted a seat consisting of a horse pulling a carriage.
Turning to Amanda with interest, Hermione's tone was cheerful. "Amanda, how about the two of us go on the carousel?"
Amanda nodded with indifferent eyes, her voice devoid of ups and downs. "Okay."
Hearing this, Hermione smilingly led her to the queue for the carousel. There were fewer people waiting for the carousel than for the ferris wheel, so it was soon their turn.
Leading Amanda onto the carousel's large platform, Hermione purposefully took her to the carriage and pointed at the seat inside. "How about you sit there?"
Amanda looked at the seat in the carriage with hollow eyes, nodded, and walked straight in to sit down.
Watching Amanda sit in the carriage, Hermione smiled happily and turned to sit on the horse pulling the carriage.
The carousel started slowly, and Hermione looked back at Amanda as it rotated.
The girl in the carriage had an indifferent expression and hollow eyes, but her temperament and appearance were exquisite.
A medieval princess should look like this... As Hermione had imagined, Amanda really looked like a princess sitting in there. Sitting steadily on her "horse," Hermione suddenly felt a bit like Amanda's knight.
Cutting through thorns for her and ensuring her safety for a lifetime.
If only I could really do that, Hermione thought to herself. If only I could really protect Amanda, help her get better, and keep her away from her painful past memories. If only I could really protect Amanda and keep her away from potential future dangers.
If only I were the one standing in front of Amanda in the future, instead of her standing in front of me... that would be great.
Looking at Amanda in the carriage, Hermione took a deep breath and flashed a big smile. She raised her voice to be heard over the carousel's background music.
"Amanda! You look like a princess! Look at me, do I look like your knight?"
As she spoke, Hermione puffed out her small chest, striking a majestic pose.
Princess? Knight? Amanda listened blankly to Hermione's words, her brain quickly reacting to these two terms.
In her memory, these two terms basically only appeared in a type of book that had already been banned: fairy tale books.
So she only knew the definitions of these two words, but looking at Hermione... Amanda nodded blankly. "Yes, we both look like them."
She said this under Hermione's expectant gaze, though she couldn't perceive the expectation in Hermione's eyes.
Nor did she understand her current excitement, but a voice deep in her mind told her to agree with Hermione's words.
The carousel ride ended. Hermione got off her "horse," came to the door of the "carriage," bent down, and extended her right hand to Amanda.
"My princess, please alight."
Amanda paused for a second, then slowly extended her right hand and placed it on Hermione's.
Gently pulling Amanda out of the carriage, Hermione led her off the carousel's platform.
Looking at the various amusement facilities nearby, Hermione tilted her head and winked at Amanda. "Shall we try them all one by one?"
"Okay." Amanda nodded expressionlessly, letting Hermione pull her along to try one ride after another.
On the little pirate ship, Hermione laughed and cheered loudly along with the other children. Amanda sat beside her, listening to the sounds that seemed to come from another world.
Until Hermione leaned her head close to her ear and spoke loudly, "Amanda! You should shout a bit too! Feel the atmosphere. Even if it's not out of fear, you can use it to let off some steam!"
Amanda's eyes moved slightly. Staring blankly ahead, she opened her mouth and let out a series of emotionless shouts.
Hearing her emotionless shouts, Hermione felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. She closed her eyes to suppress the warmth in them and reached out to hold Amanda's hand.
As if to guide her, she laughed and shouted loudly by her side.
Getting off the little pirate ship, Hermione's voice was a bit hoarse. She linked arms with Amanda. Amanda looked down blankly at her arm, then looked up and led Hermione straight toward a place selling water.
Her steps were so quick and determined that Hermione, who hadn't realized her throat was hoarse yet, felt puzzled. There didn't seem to be any rides over there, right?
Once they arrived, before Hermione could speak, Amanda nimbly took out the black card given by the world consciousness from her pocket and handed it to the shopkeeper. Hermione's voice was hoarse, and she needed to drink water as soon as possible, so Amanda's movements had to be quick.
"Two bottles of water, please."
The shopkeeper took the black bank card and was a bit dazed. Using a bank card just to buy water? And on this card... there was nothing but the two characters 'Yue Lin'. Was she sure it would work?
However, it was an official store in the Amusement Park, not a roadside stall, so it was equipped with a card reader.
The shopkeeper tapped the black bank card, and a password entry page immediately popped up.
The shopkeeper handed the card reader to Amanda. Amanda took it and unhesitatingly entered her birth date.
Payment successful. The shopkeeper was secretly surprised, took back the card reader, and handed the bank card along with two bottles of water to Amanda.
Taking the bank card and water, Amanda thanked him again in a flat tone, then unscrewed a bottle of water and turned to put it in Hermione's hand.
"Your voice is hoarse. Drink some water."
Hermione looked at the water in her hand, her heart warmed, and she couldn't help but smile.
After taking a big gulp, Hermione smiled and said to Amanda, "Thanks, Amanda~"
So Amanda had linked arms and walked off just now because she noticed her voice was hoarse and took her to buy water... This girl clearly hadn't fully understood or learned emotions yet, but she was still so gentle and considerate.
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